"Away From Shore" - watercolor on paper, 12" x 9". Available on Artfinder.

January has nearly come and gone already. This is the time when I normally plan out the coming year, set all kinds of goals, strategize and plot. But I feel compelled to let go of the reins and let the horse meander (or gallop!) where it may this year. I have a hunch things will be even more delightful this way.

More from Mark Nepo in The One Life We're Given: It's always harder to sail toward a fixed point, because you will inevitably have to cross the wind several times to get there. In contrast, a boat moves its fastest and cleanest when it simply follows the wind wherever it goes. When devoted to experience, we discover our way.

The wind surely enjoys buffeting me about. I wonder what the wind will think if I just let go and tumble across the sky?

This piece, for example, was inspired by a demonstration by Jean Haines. Her style isn't my style. Yet something about her process whispered to me. Using a discarded piece of watercolor paper (it had some old sketch marks on it) and a number of washes and textures, these lovely blooms began to emerge. Truly a transformed "fail", this one. Haines' technique definitely follows the wind, and it is full of joy.

More from Nepo: We can't know what direction awaits us if we hover too close to the shore...we must leave the shallows...and make our way into the open, where we can drift in the deep. This is not a year to hug familiar shores, dear reader! Which has me wondering - what shores do you hug tightly? What might happen if we let go together?